Oglethorpe’s small campus environment offers students ample opportunities to step forward, take initiative, and make a meaningful impact from the moment they arrive. First-year students Jacqueline Antunez ’29, Adir Ali Yerima ’29, and Zig Nganga ’29 exemplified that sense of philanthropic leadership within a few months of enrolling at Oglethorpe, leading a campus-wide Serve for Good project supporting Atlanta families in need.
Serve for Good, an initiative from Oglethorpe’s Intercultural Center, awards students with mini-grants, providing them the opportunity to benefit the Atlanta community by leading a service project. Through meetings with Intercultural Center Director Marisol Zacarias, Student Director of Serve for Good Yuliana Aceves ’26 and Community Engagement Coordinator Maria Cruz ’27, students receive guidance on how to best plan and execute their projects.
Antunez, Ali Yerima and Nganga chose to partner with New American Pathways for their project. The Atlanta-based nonprofit supports refugees through a variety of services that help them become successful, contributing members of Georgia communities. The students’ service project included a kick-off event that invited Oglethorpe students to hear from a representative of New American Pathways, who offered volunteer opportunities. The project also focused on a campus-wide food drive to support refugee families experiencing food insecurity.
“This initiative represents months of planning, collaboration and a commitment to making a difference and [having an] impact in our community. Taking an idea from concept to execution has been an incredible leadership experience,” shared Antunez in a LinkedIn post.
After two weeks of collecting food, the trio of first-year students hosted a packing event where 18 volunteers packed over 300 items and penned hand-written notes of encouragement to the recipient families. The completed kits were later delivered to the New American Pathway offices in Atlanta.
“It meant a lot to us to have our peers support our project because not only did that mean they wanted to assist us in our food initiative, but it also meant they wanted to help our local community,” said Nganga, a chemistry major.
The successful food drive helped more than 25 families and brought Oglethorpe students together around their shared goal of giving back to their local community.
Now in its second year, the Serve for Good initiative has proven to be an impactful civic engagement opportunity, providing students with key leadership skills and further connecting the university with Metro Atlanta. Antunez, Ali Yerma, Nganga and other Serve for Good student leaders will share more details about their project at the annual Liberal Arts and Science Symposium on Friday, April 17.
Learn more about the New American Pathways food drive below:
